It was on 26th February in 1564 that the playwright Christopher Marlowe was baptized in Canterbury, England. We're not sure of his birthday. He was one of the most prominent playwrights of his lifetime, surpassed only by Shakespeare. When he began his career, most English plays were written in rhyming couplets, but Marlowe wrote in blank verse, without end rhymes. Other playwrights, including Shakespeare, followed his example.
He lived an exciting life. He was a child prodigy and managed to get into Corpus Christi College in Cambridge, even though he was the son of a shoemaker. His school records show that he was frequently absent from class because he was working for Queen Elizabeth's secret service. There is some evidence that he continued to work as a secret agent for the queen for the rest of his life. In the 1590s, while he was producing his plays, church officials began to accuse him of espousing atheism, a charge that could be punished by torture. On May 18, 1593, a warrant was issued for his arrest, but he died in a fight over a bar bill before the police could find him.
Conspiracy theorists have wondered about Marlowe's death for centuries, and there is a group called the Marlovians who believe that Marlowe's death was actually faked by the queen in order to protect Marlowe from the Church. They believe the queen actually whisked Marlowe away to Italy, where he continued writing plays. They also believe that Marlowe used an actor named Shakespeare as a front man to cover up his identity.
Marlovians point out that many of Shakespeare's plays mention places in Marlowe's home district of Kent, while they never mention the places near where Shakespeare was born. A tavern mentioned in Henry IV actually belonged to Marlowe's sister.
Marlovians also point out that many of Shakespeare's plays deal with themes of exile and false identity.
But few Shakespeare scholars take this conspiracy theory seriously. And so Marlowe is best remembered for his play Dr. Faustus (c. 1594), about a scientist who sells his soul to the devil and conjures up Helen of Troy, the most beautiful woman in the history of the world.
*Who ever loved that loved not at first sight?”
*While money doesn't buy love, it puts you in a great bargaining position”
*Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss! Her lips suck forth my soul: see, where it flies! Come Helen, come give me my soul again. Here will I dwell, for heaven be in these lips, And all is dross that is not Helena.”
*Oh, thou art fairer than the evening air Clad in the beauty of a thousand stars”
*I count religion but a childish toy, and hold there is no sin but ignorance”
* Comparisons are odious. 1
* I ’m armed with more than complete steel,—
The justice of my quarrel.
* Excess of wealth is cause of covetousness.
*Now will I show myself to have more of the serpent than the dove; that is, more knave than fool.
*Love me little, love me long.
*Honour is purchas'd by the deeds we do.
*Virtue is the fount whence honour springs.
*That love is childish which consists in words.
*It lies not in our power to love, or hate,
For will in us is over-rul'd by fate.
*Accursed be he that first invented war.
*Wild savages, that drink from running springs,
Think water far excels all earthly things;
But they, that daily taste neat wine, despise it.
*Our swords shall play the orators for us.
THE PASSIONATE SHEPHERD TO HIS LOVE
by: Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593)
Come live with me, and be my love;
And we will all the pleasures prove
That hills and valleys, dales and fields,
Woods or steepy mountain yields.
And we will sit upon the rocks,
Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks
By shallow rivers, to whose falls
Melodious birds sing madrigals.
And I will make thee beds of roses,
And a thousand fragrant posies;
A cap of flowers, and a kirtle
Embroider'd all with leaves of myrtle;
A gown made of the finest wool
Which from our pretty lambs we pull;
Fair-lined slippers for the cold,
With buckles of the purest gold;
A belt of straw and ivy-buds,
With coral clasps and amber studs:
An if these pleasures may thee move,
Come live with me, and be my love.
The shepherd-swains shall dance and sing
For they delight each May morning:
If these delights thy mind may move,
Then live with me, and be my love.
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